The Old Enemy
by The Entity
Summary: In the aftermath of Escanor's victory over Galand, while the group is preparing to help him on his final task as a bar owner, Ban senses something is off. Not long after, the group on their way to the Vaizel fighting festival cross paths with the last thing they would expect to find in the open fields of Britannia. With a new storm coming, Britannia has much more to weather.


**Thank you to JacklynnFrost first and foremost for her constant help with my fics! From betaing to encouraging, she's a real saint for my fic writing. If you haven't already, seriously go check her out! She's a lovely person and writes amazing fics!**

**Now, just some quick notes that I'll be keeping short for the sake of getting to the point of coming here. I'm not going to be able to upload to this consistently, I have university and other personal obligations that come first, so uploading could be anywhere from several chapters in a week to nothing for two weeks. I will always at the VERY least get something out monthly. The M rating might not show through in this chapter, or even the next couple, but it's a safety net for what's likely to come in the future. With that out of the way though, Enjoy the reading! I really appreciate any and all reviews!**

Chapter 1: A Missing Commandment

"Hm?" Ban looks up from one of the kegs that he is helping Escanor to load onto the carriage to deliver to Vaizel. His eyes land on the statue that Galand has become. He looks at it for a long moment, his eyes narrowing slowly. Something feels off but he can't quite place it.

King, ever watchful over his chaotic companion, floats over to him, following his gaze to the statue. "What're you doing, Ban?" The Fairy King watches his companion's expression, unmoving as he seems to be practically waiting for the statue to come to life and attack them. But nothing happens, the most going on is the slight breeze that passes through the area.

"Do you feel it?" Ban asks simply. King is slightly taken off guard by the question. He hadn't in fact sensed anything so the Fairy isn't sure how to answer. Escanor looks over to the two and joins them.

"I don't feel anything, are you alright Ban? Did your brain heal the wrong way or something?" King takes another glance over to the statue of Galand, he missed out on what happened, but Jericho, more than anybody else really, explained what had happened to the late comer.

Ban glances at King with seeming disinterest. "That's the issue. I don't feel anything." This only fuels further confusion in King.

Escanor coughs lightly to pull their attention off of each other. "I believe I speak for Sir King as well when I ask, Sir Ban, what do you mean you don't feel anything?" His light voice is shaky in the cold night, and he finishes his question with a sneeze that almost resembles a kitten.

Jericho and Elaine notice the sudden gathering starting between the three sins, and make their way over. Ban didn't expect it to turn into a group huddle and it is annoying, as he didn't want to bother Elaine with something that might not even be important. Ban lets out a sigh and shakes his head. "I distinctly remember asking King about this, not for everyone to gather 'round for story time."

Elaine floats next to Ban and follows his gaze to the frozen Galand. "I know what's bothering you." This causes everyone to go from looking at Ban, to looking at Elaine. "When Galand was petrified by his commandment, there was still some trace presence to be felt. Now, there's nothing at all."

King didn't even really sense a presence to begin with, so he can't really back it up. Escanor had left not long after Galand was petrified, and didn't really feel anything when returning. Jericho just wasn't keen or powerful enough to detect it the same way the others can. Jericho is the first to speak though, "Is it possible that he died? Maybe the petrification just didn't finish him off immediately."

Ban and Elaine both shake their heads. "No." Ban responds. "That's too simple of an answer."

Jericho deadpans at this. "Too simple?" In her eyes just because it's a simple answer doesn't mean it can't be right.

"He's right." King explains, laying back on chastiefol in its pillow form. "When I was visiting the sins in Camelot, Merlin was petrified." This earns several shocked looks, but before anyone can start asking questions, especially the terrified and likely on the verge of a heart attack Escanor, he continues. "She transferred herself into her sacred treasure, so she's fine." Several sighs of relief pass around group. "She mentioned that her body is still alive, just frozen in stone. The commandment doesn't kill, it just freezes the body, turning it to stone, so technically, if she had remained in her body when she was petrified, she would still have been alive. I'm doubtful that Galand here would have died when Merlin would have lived."

Elaine floats over to the statue, King following along with her, everyone else remains where they are, watching. They both float around the statue, inspecting it for any sort of sign that damage was sustained, anything like that, but there's nothing. "Maybe I can try reading his mind." Elaine says softly.

King looks at her in slight distress. "That might not be a good idea, Elaine. We don't know what could-"

"There's nothing." Elaine interrupts her brother before he can finish even warning her to not do what she's already done. "No mind to read. He's dead it seems." Everyone glances around at each other, as though one of them will have the answer, but they're all clueless as to what could have happened, let alone what actually occurred.

Ban shakes his head and lifts up the keg that he was going to grab before he was interrupted by his own suspicions. "Nothing we can do about it, whatever it is." King and Escanor look at their fellow sin, wanting to object, to say that it should probably be looked into to some degree. They quickly realize that he's right, that whatever happened it's already happened, nothing more can be really done about it where they stand, completely clueless.

"Once we're done with this errand for Escanor, we should talk with the captain about this." King suggests while glancing to Ban. Ban just nods, not looking forward to facing Meliodas just yet, but there's nobody who knows the commandments better than he does. If this is natural when a commandment activates on its user, or if something's up, he'd know better than anyone.

Despite knowing it's the right course of action though, King's own personal distrust of Meliodas and where his allegiances might lie occupy the fairy's thoughts. He's unsure if he wants Meliodas to be capable of answering the mystery or not. On one hand, if he can't answer it, he could just be hiding answers that would compromise his fellow demons, or that he really isn't the monster he worries that he might be. However, if he can answer it, then it means that he is in one way supporting them, but at the same time, it lends more evidence to what he is.

"You're over-complicating things, Harlequin." Elaine speaks softly as she passes by her brother, and this makes him freeze, his gaze darting to her. She smiles lightly at him as she continues on. The fairy's mind eases only a bit though. Even if his sister thinks it's unnecessary to worry about, he can't help but wonder as they all return to Escanor's final act as a bar owner.

* * *

Meliodas stretches out as he walks down the stairs of the Boar's Hat. Hawk's mom has been walking through the night, which made for a relaxing rocking motion as he slept. He didn't want to bother Elizabeth so he got out of the ropes that Hawk wrapped him in on his own. He smiles at the memory of her peaceful face as she slept. It's something he has been cherishing as much as possible ever since the commandments returned.

"Captain. You're up rather early." Merlin manifests her illusory form at the bar, sitting on one of the stools with her back to the counter. He looks from her to The Morning Star Aldan, which is technically more her than her projection of herself. The ball floats in the middle of the bar, and if he has to guess Meliodas would say that she's been here all night.

"And you never had to get up I'm guessing." Meliodas quips as he hops behind the counter and grabs a tankard and a bottle of Vanya Ale. He doesn't waste any time and popping the bottle open and pouring it into the mug. He ignores the inquisitive look that Merlin's projection gives him and continues as though it's the perfect time to be drinking.

Once the tankard is full Merlin gives Meliodas a simple shrug. "I don't have a body to need rest, so for the moment I don't believe that pretending to sleep is an effective use of time." Meliodas shrugs back, understanding the reasoning well enough. "Is the plan still to go to this fighting festival?" Merlin quirks an eyebrow at the demon, trying to get a read on what his plan is.

Meliodas cracks a wide grin and lets out a 'nish nish' chuckle. Before he answers he takes a swig of his drink and hops over the bar to sit on the same side as Merlin, his back resting against the counter. "I think we could all use a relaxing fighting festival to relax a bit. Remember what we're fighting for." Merlin grins faintly as she nods, playing along with what he says, suspecting that there's more to it than that.

Merlin crosses her legs, as though she is actually physically present. "I wonder who you might find there."

Meliodas tilts his head at her. "Don't you mean we?"

The mage doesn't try to smother her laugh at the question, shaking her head in amusement. "I do not. I have no interest in accompanying you all in this endeavor. I have other things I need to focus on, besides, I can't exactly participate, even if I were in my body." Meliodas opens his mouth to retort, but quickly realizes that there's nothing to retort with, and shuts it just as fast as he opened it.

Time passes rather slowly, the two being the only ones awake, everyone else retired elsewhere in the tavern. The only other soul present being Hawk, who's passed out cold and silent behind the bar in spite of the presence of Merlin and Meliodas. Gowther is himself awake, but he's more interested in reading on his own in the closet.

Once the short demon has finished his drink he sets it down on the counter and hops off his stool. "Going somewhere?" Merlin inquires knowingly, watching how he turns toward the stairs back up.

"No place in particular." He answers with a smirk as he walks to the stairs. He knows that Merlin is aware, he just doesn't plan on indulging her wicked nature.

Halfway up the stairs Meliodas freezes as he feels a rumble. Not the same as the rumbling that is created by Hawk's mom moving, but an internal one, a feeling created when a powerful aura is felt. "Meliodas." Merlin snaps at him, and before she can continue Meliodas is storming the door and running out onto Hawk's mom to look for what the source it.

The Morning Star Aldan follows him out and Merlin's projection forms by him. "Where is it?" Meliodas almost hisses out. His eyes alight as he searches frantically for the familiar presence. The commotion that he made when running out woke a number of people in the Boar's Hat, and in moments everyone is stirring and on the move.

Before any of them can get outside though, Merlin points up. "Learn to look high, not just wide." Merlin says calmly. Meliodas follows her finger up into the sky and sees it, but not in the form that he expected.

High in the sky, flying through the air at ludicrous speeds, the orb of the commandment of truth is speeding off, and in moments it's gone off the horizon. Meliodas glares at where he saw it going and before Merlin can even object to the idea of Meliodas chasing after it he's gone. Merlin lets out a sigh, shaking her head as people start pouring out of the tavern to figure out what is causing the commotion.

"Big sister, what's going on?" Slader walks up to Merlin, Hendrickson walking up to her projection's other side, everyone else gathering not far behind.

Merlin is silent a moment, though Hendrickson fills the void himself. "I thought I sensed something. I'm not sure what it was, but clearly I wasn't the only one." His eyes fall on Merlin, pointed and accusative. "Where's Meliodas gone?"

"Meliodas is gone?" Gilthunder is the first to speak, tensing up at the thought of his hero disappearing without a word. He's not the only one, as Elizabeth, still dressed in her nightgown, tenses up with him. Meliodas wouldn't abandon them in her eyes, but in Hendrickson's gaze, his interrogating voice, she gets the sense that not everyone believes that.

Merlin sighs. "Just my luck isn't it." She snaps her fingers, yet nothing seems to happen. "Hawk's mom, turn left, we're following after Meliodas." The massive pig snorts its confirmation as it veers left and soon enough, it's on the same trail as Meliodas, albeit far, far behind him.

"What did that pig bastard run off for this time?" Hawk's question comes from the porch as he is the last one to make his way out of the tavern.

"Captain of Scraps Disposal," Gowther looks at the pig curiously, yet the look is still as blank as he always is. "You sleep by the bar, how is it that you are the last one to get outside?"

The Captain of Scraps Disposal lets out a puff of air at the question. "That's not important." Is his answer, and Gowther relents that it likely is not important information for the present situation.

Hendrickson glares at Merlin now. "Where's he run off, Merlin? What happened? We need to know, if it impacts our current plans then we shouldn't be left in the dark." There are a couple nods throughout the group, but Elizabeth is too absorbed in her own thoughts to register anything going on anymore.

Memories of the time that she was taken and he came for her without question, as fast as he could. This is her chance to come to his aid, even if it's not quite the same, she wants to be of help to him, not a hindrance that keeps holding him back. She balls her hands into fists at her sides, her decision is made, whether or not the others will want to continue chasing after him and return to their original course, she'll keep pursuing him.

Merlin shakes her head in thought more than as an actual answer. "The presence that was felt was the power of a commandment." Everyone's eyes widen with shock and panic, thinking that they were attacked and Meliodas taken without anyone knowing. "It was only a commandment though, no user, just the lone power." In some ways the explanation relaxes everyone but it also confuses and worries in more ways than one.

"Hold on a moment," Howzer holds up a hand trying to understand what Merlin just said. "A commandment without a user? So what? Was it just flying by going about its own business?"

"In a sense, yes." Merlin answers the question and a number of faces deadpan at that. "Though it seemed to have a set course, as it was flying rather fast. The fact that we happened to cross its path is just luck."

Slader tilts his head curiously at Merlin. He is in constant amazement with this woman present, and she continues to baffle him. "Luck, you say? Why is it lucky for us might I ask?"

Merlin smiles slightly. "It means that a commandment has fallen. Before you all can start asking how, I'm willing to argue that it was our dear missing sin, Escanor. I sensed his power rapidly rising not long ago, but as the day wore on it diminished, as always does. If I had to guess, a commandment was unlucky enough to encounter him during the day."

Most of the group looks around to each other, not really understanding what she means by this, not knowing anything of Escanor's power, or why he shouldn't be encountered during the day. Elizabeth is the first to break the confused silence. "Lady Merlin, does that mean that Meliodas is chasing after the commandment to destroy it?"

The response is a simple head shake no. Merlin's projection turns to face everyone properly. "That's the odd part of this. A commandment shouldn't go flying around once its owner dies, it should simply stay in the corpse until it's recovered by another commandment. Yet there's no commandment with the one we saw."

Confusion spreads across the group like a wave. Everyone is looking to each other trying to discern answers, but only finding more uncertainty and bewilderment. "Is that why you say it's lucky that we came across its path then?" Hendrickson inquires after a minute of uncertainty among everyone. "So we can see where it's going and make sure that nothing bad can come of it?"

Merlin has a smug grin on her lips as she turns to Hendrickson. The former grandmaster holy knight doesn't feel right letting Meliodas go running off on his own. The odds are this is a trap of some kind, or worse Meliodas could be turning on them, however unlikely. He doesn't want to leave anything to chance, and not keeping together as a team is something that leaves a lot to chance. After a shared look between the two, Merlin gives a small shrug. "I'm hopeful that this will prove to be advantageous."

Hendrickson almost feels the vein popping out of his forehead at this reply. He would argue, but Merlin scares him too much for him to take any sort of action. For now, he decides to rely on Meliodas' intuition and Merlin's ability to get him out of whatever mess he might end up in. "For now all we can do is follow after him. He sped off so we'll be playing catch-up, which means we have the fun role of being on our guard in the event that something comes after us while Meliodas goes after the commandment."

Everyone disperses, taking that as their cue to return to their business until further notice, as following after Meliodas is up to Hawk's mom now more than anything, knowing that none of them can keep up with his speed. Elizabeth walks up to Merlin though, not yet leaving. "Lady Merlin," the mage looks at Elizabeth with an eyebrow raised, and her small grin ever present. "Sir Meliodas will be safe, right?"

Elizabeth's worries are, as they always have been since she met him, with Meliodas and his safety. The question puts a smirk on Merlin's face, though inside she feels a pang for the girl. This Elizabeth is so much like the first one, the Elizabeth that was cursed with this fate. Not just physically, but also in her worry for others, and especially in her worries for Meliodas. "The captain will be fine." Merlin waves her hand in the air. "Even if I have to make sure of it myself."

Elizabeth nods, somewhat solemnly. As much as the assurance helps to diminish her worries, she can't help but still feel unsure. Whenever Meliodas is gone she gets anxious, and thoughts of what could go wrong swirl in her head. She trusts Meliodas, and his capability to handle anything that gets in his way, though that doesn't stop the worries. "Thank you, lady Merlin." Elizabeth bows her head slightly before taking her leave.

As Elizabeth leaves, Arthur walks up to Merlin. "Merlin." The mage turns to look at the young king, the strange cat that he acquired in his training still stuck to his head.

"Arthur. I see that peculiar creature still hasn't detached from you." Merlin watches the creature carefully. While it seems to have taken a liking to Arthur, she still has her reservations about what it wants. Though so long as it brings no harm to him, she won't try to bother it.

Arthur nods with an awkward grin on his face. "No, not really." He shakes his head a bit, refocusing on what he came to talk with Merlin about. "Merlin, is there something you're keeping from telling us about this?"

Merlin smirks at the young king. With all the time she's been with him, helping him to grow to be the king she knows he will be, he's learned to read her, something that even her fellow sins struggle to do. "It's nothing important. If it were I wouldn't keep it from the rest of you." A blatant lie from the sorceress, and Arthur isn't convinced, but he's not going to try and force the truth from Merlin. He knows that she won't budge, experience has taught him that much.

"I'll trust you then, Merlin. You've never let me down after all." Arthur turns and takes his leave, heading into the tavern. Merlin watches him go, the boy trusts her more than she feels he should. The fact that he knows she lied isn't beyond her. She wishes that she could be more honest sometimes, but she's a liar by nature and giving up such a vital trait, even though it's what put her into this situation of lacking a body, it is one of her greatest assets.

The mage turns once more to look into the forest that they're now going through to keep after Meliodas. She is hardly able to keep track of him as he moves so quickly, going further away by the moment. It will take quite some time for them to catch up with him at this rate. Were she not confined to her sacred treasure, she would have simply teleported everyone after him, but such a small thing is a waste of her magic power in this form.

Gilthunder and Howzer stand off to the side, looking into the forest. "He'll be fine Gil. Don't worry." Gilthunder looks at Howzer in shock, as though it isn't obvious to anyone how he's worrying about Meliodas almost as much as Elizabeth. "You were making your worrying face." Howzer adds as explanation.

The holy knight shakes his head, as though he is shaking off the worry like it's water in his hair. "I know Meliodas will be fine. He's not going to fall to any of the commandments the way he is now." Howzer nods slowly, not fully buying into it, but not willing to break the news to his friend.

"You know, Gil, you should try working on holding back your expressions, you're easier to read than you think." Howzer pats his friend on the shoulder and it earns a look of hurt from Gilthunder. "Like that. It's too obvious that you're shocked by what I said."

While Howzer and Gilthunder start to go back and forth between themselves, Gowther walks up to Hendrickson, who is sat on the porch of the Boar's Hat. "Ex-Grandmaster Hendrickson," The man winces a bit at the ex-grandmaster part. He doubts he's ever going to live past that, but he accepts the pain it causes as part of his penance. "You do not seem to trust the captain being off on his own." Gowther is vocalizing his observations than inquiring as to why, though Hendrickson hears it as the latter.

"I trust sir Meliodas with a great many things. I believe he's our strongest asset. As such I'd like it if he didn't just run off on us without warning. If we lose him then there's little if any hope left." Gowther is just blankly staring at Hendrickson as he explains his reasoning. From what the doll has read, it is rude to walk away from someone while they are talking to you. So the doll is now stuck as Hendrickson explains his worries about letting Meliodas run off on his own.

Meanwhile, Meliodas is bounding from tree branch to tree branch, trying to keep up with the commandment as it soars through the sky at high speeds. He would be on the ground, but that would sacrifice his visual on the commandment, and he can't risk losing it if it makes a sudden turn, he wouldn't be able to sense the change in direction quick enough to follow after it and still maintain this close distance.

His thoughts are racing, he recognizes it as Galand's commandment of turth, the primary oddity for Meliodas is that it also feels like Galand's own power is attached to it. As though the power of Galand was stacked onto the commandment when it was presumably ripped out of him. Meliodas grits his teeth, because for the first time in a long while he truly has no clue what's about to happen.

He watches the commandment as it keeps going in a straight line, unwavering as it maintains its distance from him. "Where are you going?" He grumbles to himself more than to the commandment. As if on cue though it shoots straight down and into the trees. "Dammit." He hisses out as he darts to wherever it landed. Jumping from tree to tree until he lands on a branch at the edge of a clearing. His gaze scanning around, this was definitely where the commandment should have landed, but it's nowhere to be seen.

He glares down at the center of the clearing as he perches on the edge of the branch he's on. He can still feel the commandment nearby, this close, he knows it's still in the clearing he suspected it landed in. It's just a question of where it's hiding. He hops down from the branch and lands on the ground perfectly. His eyes dance around the area, but neither visually nor power wise does he feel any presence that isn't his own or the commandment. "Not a trap then." He mumbles softly as he walks around the perimeter of the clearing.

He wanders around for a bit before making his way to the center, where he guesses the commandment has dug itself into the ground. "Could you make this easy and come out on your own?" Meliodas asks with a hopeful grin. After a moment of nothing happening he sighs and bends down to start digging.

Then he senses a third presence. He leaps back away from the center, all the way to the perimeter of the clearing and his eyes dart straight up. He squints to see what it is and for a moment he thinks he's seeing things. Down from the sky a rather large soul orb floats down. He follows it as it floats down and sinks into the center of the field. Then his mind clicks, and he looks around in worry, thinking that it might be drawing in souls. His biggest worry being that it will draw in the souls of his friends that are likely chasing after him.

After a moment of nothing happening though, he decides that idea is unlikely. He looks back down at the ground, wondering just what started this strange occurrence.

Without warning the ground underneath Meliodas erupts ferociously with hellfire. He just barely jumps out of the way of it, his clothes getting slightly singed by the flames. He quickly pulls Lostvayne from its sheathe and readies himself for another attack. The fires slowly die down, the ground torn up and dirt scattered everywhere. At the center of the small crater formed in the outburst of flames a corpse lifts itself from the ground.

Flesh and skin slowly forming as it stands up slowly. Meliodas watches the newly resurrected being before him carefully. Bone and flesh are visible, but slowly being covered as the evident human slowly gains form. Meliodas' guess is that this is where the soul went. Yet he has no clue what is going on beyond that. He's never heard of a commandment bringing the dead back to life, let alone going flying around when its owner dies. He remembers clearly when he killed his fellow commandments that such a thing didn't happen.

Skin begins to cover flesh as the human form stands at full height, stumbling slightly as it gets used to the ground beneath it. It's tall, and well built. Darkness begins to cover the skin like clothing, something demons often do, but Meliodas can tell that this is no demon.

Soon enough, the body is completely restored, and the darkness covering the man's body like skin tight clothing. "Ahhh, I finally wake up after who knows how long, and already the Demon King is sending his ilk after me." The man opens his eyes slowly, his irises like that of a cat. His hand rises to slide along his bald scalp, and slowly grey hair grows from the barren head, short, but enough to cover his head. "You never know what insignificant powers might come in handy." He chuckles lightly as he dusts his hands together.

Meliodas, who's been watching in absolute confusion, slowly begins to recognize the face before him. A face that was supposed to be dead over three thousand years ago. "How..." Is all he can stammer out in shock at what is standing before him.

"Hm? I figured since you were here you knew what was happening." The man attempts to take a step forward but stumbles, and staggers instead. He lets out a slight chuckle at this. "It's been so long since I had to walk, goodness me. How long has it been? It's hard to keep track of time in the land of the dead. Walking wasn't exactly common either."

The blonde demon squints at the casual nature of the one standing before him. "Three thousand years." The normally relaxed and equally carefree nature that Meliodas normally has is gone, his confusion taking a tight grip on him now.

The man's eyes widen in shock for a moment. "Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the living world. It would have yielded more answers than what I had done with my time time in the land of the dead." The man lets out a small sigh before walking slowly forward, seeming to be testing how it feels more than trying to get anywhere. "You seem rather familiar. I don't imagine anyone I knew though would live for three thousand years quite that easily. Don't tell me, I enjoy guessing the Demon King's... envoys? That's what he likes to claim he sends me right?"

"Stop talking." Meliodas hisses out. The man quirks an eyebrow at the boy before him. "How are you alive? You should be dead. Should have stayed dead." Meliodas' expression is hard and furious. More akin to how he looked when he sensed the presence of the ten commandments being revived than his usual cheery self.

The man lets out a small grunt as his response. "I believe I asked the question first but I will entertain you with an answer." His eyes stare through Meliodas, reading him on every level, from appearance, to power. It's then that he realizes the demon standing in front of him, is the old commandment of love, though now he senses no commandment at all. "Ah, Meliodas. That was your name, yes? My memory might be shaky after these centuries I imagine, but I pride myself on remembering everything. From what I heard you abandoned your clan ri-"

"I asked how are you alive!" Meliodas shouts as he launches at the man, flying through the air with Lostvayne raised to slice through him. But contact doesn't meet his skin as the darkness envelopes his arm like a blade. "Answer the question."

The man grins smugly at the furious Meliodas. "You seem to be familiar with me." The man jests as he pushes the blade of darkness against Meliodas' blade, sending him skidding back.

Meliodas glares at the man. "How could I forget. The butcher of so many of all five races. The human with the power of 'Devour.'" A small chuckle escapes the man as his cat-like eyes of the man turn black, like that of a demon.

"I shouldn't be surprised. My reputation did find its way to the Demon King and Supreme Deity after all." The man lets out a smug sigh as he closes his eyes as if reminiscing in a memory. "Such simple times I must say."

Meliodas is behind the man in a flash of movement, swinging his blade at him again, but once again it is contested by the man's blade of darkness. "I'll ask again, how are you alive?" This time Meliodas is the one who pushes against the blades, and sends the man stumbling back. Taking advantage of his loss of positioning Meliodas launches at him again, but as he swings his blade for a fatal attack, a smug grin widens on the man's lips, and as though he never lost his footing he spins around Meliodas in an instant and slams his foot into the demon's back, sending him flying into a tree on the edge of the field.

"I'm guessing you followed the commandment to here then. Well in short, when I was dying I cast a spell I had been toying with. Purely experimental, but my only chance of survival. It expelled my power of Devour from my dying body and made it stay in this world." Meliodas launches into another strike which the man simply slides out of range from, even as Meliodas sends repeated strikes, he continues to dodge and avoid every one of them. "The spell set my power to wait for a commandment to be activated on itself. Evidently that took a long time to happen, but finally one of your dear father's commandments activated on its owner, which allowed for my power to activate on them."

Meliodas swings his blade, but this time, predicting the dodge, spins his body and lands a kick into the side of the man, sending him skidding to the side. The long dead killer coughs a bit, getting the wind back into his lungs. "Once my power took hold of a commandment, it would bring it back to the location of my corpse, or where it was I suppose, and using the immense power of a commandment, resurrect me, in simple terms. There's more to it than that, but I'd rather not give up the full details of my little tricks."

The demon launches at the man with a flurry of attacks, yet only a few slices make contact, and even then the damage is minimal as the darkness takes the brunt of the attacks. "Now it's your turn, Meliodas." The man leaps up in a blur of motion and slams his foot down onto Lostvayne, pinning it to the ground before kicking Meliodas in the face, too fast for even the blonde demon to react to. "Why are you here? Three thousand years after my death, I suspected that the holy war would continue on until everyone was dead."

The man's clear ignorance of the state of Britannia shocks Meliodas. Sure he died before the Goddesses sealed the demon clan away, but this is beyond understanding. He is truly unaware of any events that took place after his death. "The Goddesses sealed the Demon clan." He starts slowly, inching closer to his blade as the killer steps off it and walks around, one hand on his chin in thought. "It cost them their astral forms, leaving only the fairies, giants and humans in Britannia." The man nods in thought.

"I see then. I should have known such a great expanse of time had passed. I can feel such a deprivation of Britannia's magic already." In a flash of movement, Meliodas has grabbed his sword once more and goes to attack the man from behind. At the last second, the killer whirls around and grabs the blade, darkness surrounding his hand as he holds the blade still. "Why are you attacking me?" Meliodas squints at the question. "I figured that you were just helping me warm my body up but this seems more intent to kill than that."

Meliodas is confused beyond words at this misunderstanding this known killer is having. "Wha- You're a murderer! You killed countless members of all five races who were sent to negotiate with you!" The man's eyes widen, then out of nowhere he bursts into manic laughter, only fueling Meliodas' anger further. Meliodas rips the blade from the man's grip and spins around to slice at him again, but once more it is caught before it can make contact.

"Tell me this, since when have the Demon King and Supreme Deity ever sent envoys to do anything peaceful?" Meliodas is struck by this statement, and before he can fully process it, the man has punched him square in the chest, sending him skidding back. "Those so called envoys were assassins. One and all." Meliodas has a look of confusion, but he shakes it off in an instant, exchanging it for a hate filled glare.

Though he doesn't move to attack. For now he needs to look for weaknesses, openings in his defenses, however small they may be. "You really think that two deities would waste time sending assassins after you when they have a number of immensely powerful warriors at their disposal capable of handling you far faster?" He wants to keep the man talking, the longer he delays the sooner Merlin will be able to arrive and help trap this killer.

The man lets out another burst of laughter. "You are surprisingly convinced that your father is an honest deity right now." Meliodas winces at the mere suggestion that he trusts his father. "They both wanted me dead. The cover of sending envoys to make peace with my followers and I was the easiest excuse they could come up with without drawing attention to what I was really doing. Which wasn't murder to put it simply for your easily fooled mind."

The demon's grip on his blade tightens as he glares at the man. He needs to control himself, launching into more attacks will only ruin his plan now. "What exactly were you doing then?" Indulging the ideas of this killer is the best way to stall him in Meliodas' eyes.

The man isn't easily fooled though. He senses more presences getting nearer by the moment. The longer he stays the more endangered he will become. Though he has little worries for such a thing. He will entertain Meliodas' questions. "Have you considered how much magic has drained out of Britannia since the Holy War?" Meliodas' confused face is enough of an answer for the man. "Three thousand years ago the Holy War was supposedly started over the magic that Britannia fostered. Yet why would beings of nigh absolute power bother with others waging that war?"

When Meliodas is about to answer, the man cuts him off, continuing without a care for Meliodas' response. "Pride is too simple an answer. Let me ask another question. How are the Supreme Deity and Demon King equal beings? If they are truly enemies, why have they not attempted to wipe the other out? The Demon King split off half of his power, into the ten commandments, thus weakening himself to half his power. If this is the case why did the Supreme Deity not strike him down while he is so weak? Or in reverse, while the Demon King was at his strongest, why did he not execute the Supreme Deity? There is no sense behind such a lack of removing their greatest rival when one must have had time to be far stronger than the other."

Meliodas is stumped by this. In hindsight it feels like such a clear point, yet he never once thought on it himself. "Tell me, Meliodas," the man continues one without missing a beat, "if the Supreme Deity and Demon King were true enemies of one and other, why did they work together in destroying Bellialuin? Why did they work together in attempting to assassinate me? And I am sure that you have more examples of their combined efforts in the three thousand years I have been gone."

Meliodas' throat tightens, remembering his and Elizabeth's battle against their parents. The thought of the hypocrisy in their working together to execute himself and Elizabeth has always rested in his mind, yet now the thought feels so much different. He shakes his head, refocusing on his question that started this tangent. "Answer the question already, what were you doing to draw the ire of both the Supreme Deity and Demon King?"

A grunt of amusement escapes the killer. "Have you ever considered how much magic flowed in Britannia when it was first formed? How much magic ran rampant before the five races came to it? Before the races started sucking out the immense magic of the land just by existing on it?" Meliodas narrows his eyes in thought. "Consider, if this is what Britannia is reduced to after three thousand years of only humans, fairies, and giants living here, then how much was drained from Britannia when it was all five races at once?"

Meliodas shakes his head, getting annoyed with all these questions being asked instead of a simple answer like he wishes he could get. "What are you getting at, Devourer?"

The man, known as the Devourer, after his magical power, lets out a small chuckle. "How long it has been since I heard that name." He lets out a sigh, reminiscing in the nostalgia. "What I am getting at, is that the Holy War was not some squabble between two deities, but something else. My hypothesis that I developed in my time in the land of the dead? A form of population control." Meliodas' eyes widen at the mere suggestion, while it seems like a better idea than that of it being a simple squabble between the two deities, it doesn't take anything away from how disgusting the war was. Before Meliodas can say anything the man continues. "What for? To slow the drain of magic from Britannia, I would guess. Though why is still beyond me. It's what I've been asking for over three thousand years now."

The blonde demon is stunned in silence. Looking at the man before him, the Human with the power of 'Devour.' It takes a few moments for Meliodas to gather his thoughts before he looks at the man long and hard. "If what you're saying is true, then why did you not spread this information during the Holy War? Why did you keep it to yourself?"

A sigh escapes the Human. "You're not understanding. Though that is no surprise to me, I did hold some hope that you would see what I did. You will in time though. For now, I must acquaint myself with this new Britannia, and continue my search. Do not try and pursue me. You'll only get in the way. Much like those pesky assassins. I'd rather not have to waste any more life than already has been lost."

The words coming from this man, whom Meliodas believed to be a ruthless murderer mere minutes ago, and was ready to execute on his own, has in simple minutes confused and shaken his world. Much of what he has said feels like obvious hindsight to him, but the fact that it never came to his mind on his own frustrates him deeply. Meliodas is about to speak, but as he opens his mouth to do so, the man snaps his fingers and much like Merlin's teleportation, he's gone without any sign of where he went.

His eyes dart around, hoping that he hasn't gone far, but his presence is no longer here. Meliodas grits his teeth as he feels the presence of Merlin and everyone else nearing him. He isn't sure what to think. To believe the words of a man he thought a killer not long ago, or to push aside clear evidence that has been shown to him simply because it's easier to continue with what he's believed in the past three thousand years.

Hawk's mom soon barges through the trees at the edge of the clearing and he leaps up to stand on her with everyone else. Everyone has gathered around, hoping that Meliodas has good news to share with them. Merlin's illusion standing in front of him, looking closely at him. A number of scratches and bruises on him from the conflict. His eyes narrowed in anger, but also in thought. "Captain." Merlin speaks, seeing that Meliodas isn't talking on his own just yet. "What happened?"

Meliodas finally looks up and around at the faces gathered around him. So many people that, if he's not careful, could be devoured by the resurrected murderer. If he is what he's believed him to be, and everything he said turns out to be a lie, or ruse of some kind. The threat of the Ten Commandments is greater, no doubt in his mind, but having to worry about the Devourer on top of the Ten Commandments already, is a lot for him, let alone everyone else.

"It was nothing." Meliodas answers with a wide grin on his face. Everyone's faces blank at this answer, save for Merlin, who raises a curious eyebrow. "False alarm."

Hendrickson is the first to raise his confusion. "False alarm? How do you have a false alarm over the presence of a commandment?" The ex-grandmaster holy knight is not easily convinced, especially on something so drastic.

The short captain of the seven sins shrugs. "Probably just a bit too high alert. The stress is probably getting to my head." Meliodas lets out an all too cheery 'nish nish' chuckle as he walks through the crowd of his companions. "A drink will probably help calm the nerves."

Everyone watches the captain walking into the tavern, completely dumbfounded that they made this detour for nothing. "It's as the captain says I suppose." Everyone's gaze snaps to Merlin's projection of herself. Her lips curled up into her usual grin. "False alarm."


End file.
